Shapes
by Skye
Summary: Along the beach, Layla thinks about her past, present, and wishes for the future. Musa/Layla


Note: This is part of a challenge I'm doing with a friend. You can find her art to go with it on deviantart, deviation # 42330168 .

**Shapes**

I walked along the beach with Musa, admiring her newly spelled hair. It was much longer and suited her quite nicely, although it was a little shocking to one who was used to her old style. I couldn't decide which one I preferred. No matter what the hair style, Musa was beautiful. She turned and smiled at me, making my heart jump. "We can hang out before the other girls show up," she said.

"Right," I said. I didn't express my true feelings, those being that I wished we were going to be alone the whole trip. Still I savored the moment, walking silently along the beachside. I was elated to have two of my loves in one place. The water, and Musa. Musa certainly didn't notice, but I manipulated one of the crashing waves into a heart shape. I could do that to large portion of water, but I enjoyed to see their natural shapes as well. So I allowed the ocean to return to its normal crashing and constant movement. My secret disappeared into the chaotic shapes of the waves.

Shapes. As a child, it was all I could think about. It was even something that as royalty, was appropriate for me to think about. As a small child, I remember working with water. I complain about my palace life now, and oh, I _did_ hate it, but these times were happy for me. In a fancy dress, I worked for hours with a tutor on a small puddle of water. It started simple. "Make a circle. Not an oval, Layla. Make a square. Good. Now make a diamond." I recalled just how excited I was, making these first few simple shapes.

Excited, like when I first realized I was in love with Musa. Even if it couldn't be, I was happy that I was able to have these feelings... Before, I didn't think it was possible for me to feel that way. When I realized I was in love I just felt warm just with her around, also nervous of saying the wrong thing, and like a bee with honey when she complimented me or touched me.

I was just so happy to have her be part of my life. She opened up new doors for me. She convinced me to allow myself to be friends with not only her, but many others. She gave music new meaning. Before in my mind music had been background noise, for my dancing or special occasions when my parents would tell the servants to put it on. But Musa gave it something that had meaning to me -- a shape. Seeing her onstage was thrilling. From slow and sad to fast and electrifying, Musa's songs moved me like none had before. _Give me the music, Musa, and I'll make a visual display worthy of it._ I thought, although sometimes I felt inadequate to do so.

"It's time to copy this rose now," I recalled my tutor saying to me. I made a perfect copy of the rose, and added some morning dew dripping down the petals for effect.

"It appears my expectations were too high," my tutor said with disappointment.

"What are you talking about? It was perfect!" I told him.

"Princess Layla, I know you could see that some of your water wasn't held inside the shape."

"I did that on purpose, I thought it looked pretty that way."

"Most unladylike, Princess Layla. You aren't a street performer, you must put on a display like royalty. Perfection, period. That is all that is required. I did also notice a few imperfections in your rose. Let's go over them..."

I walked out on the lesson that day. That was when they stopped being fun. "You've been kind of quiet," Musa told me, and my mind came back to the pleasant present. Musa spoke not in a demeaning or annoyed way, she was just letting me know she wanted to talk. I also think Musa can also tell when I'm going into my bad place. We have that kind of connection.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about things."

"Oh yeah, what kind of things?" Musa asked. I frowned as I thought of what to tell her. "Never mind," she said. "Hey, can't you do things with these waves?" she asked.

"Yes, I can make all kind of different shapes."

"Want to show off a little?"

"Maybe later," I said. The only shape I could think of right then was the shape of Musa's beautiful naked body... Oh, how I envy Tecna for being her roomie.

"Got ya. Right now let's do what we came here to do, have a little fun!"

"A little beach sky ball?" I suggested.

Musa wrapped her arm around me. "Sounds great to me!" she said. I felt her cheerfulness envelope me, and I imagined then that we were already a couple.


End file.
